Outdoor ground tile

ABSTRACT

An outdoor ground tile having a load bearing portion with depending ground support walls about the periphery thereof and intersecting ribs underneath which reinforce and also provide ground support to the load bearing portion. Anchor pins depend from the underneath side and the ribs and anchors which have a press fit with both the anchor pins and ribs provide for anchoring the tile to a ground surface.

United States Patent [191 Johnson 1 Dec. 4, 1973 OUTDOOR GROUND TILE[76] Inventor: Arthur J. Johnson, 31436 Artesian,

Warren, Mich. 48092 [22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1972 t [2]] Appl. No.: 302,009

[52] US. Cl 52/169, 52/386, 52/391, 52/506, 404/34, 404/43 [51] int. Cl..-E0ld 27/00, E04f 13/08 l58| Field ofSearch ..52/384392, 506, 510,511, 52/155, 169

[ 5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,599,745 9/1926 Cinnamond52/155 2,135,118 11/1938 Stewart 2,195,910 4/1940 Welch 52/511 Baldanza52/384 Mitchell 52/392 Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott AssistantExaminer-James L. Ridgill, Jr. AttorneyRona1d L. Phillips 5 7 ABSTRACT 1An outdoor ground tile having a. load bearing portion 1 with dependingground support walls about the periphery thereof and intersecting ribsunderneath which reinforce and also provide ground support to the loadbearing portion. Anchor pins depend from the underneath side and theribs and anchors which have a press fit with both the anchor pins andribs provide for anchoring the tile to a ground surface.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures OUTDOOR GROUND TILE This invention relatesto outdoor ground tile and more particularly to a ground tile of hollowtype construction that will anchor to a ground surface.

Up to the presenttime, outdoor ground tile or block used for walks,patios and the like have been generally made of concrete rather thanplastic for several reasons. For example, there is the initial highercost of plastic that dictates a hollow rather than solid plastic tile orblock that will have sufficient load bearing abil-' ity and is massproducible. Furthermore, the weight of a concrete tile or block isnormally sufficient to hold it in place on the ground but the samesurface area tile in plastic would be too light to have such inherentability. While a plastic tile should have some way of being anchored tothe ground the anchoring arrangement should not however add substantialheight to the tiles for minimum stacking and packaging height.

The outdoor ground tile according to the present invention meets all therequirements for plastic construction noted above and comprises a loadbearing portion having load bearing walls depending downwardly and aboutthe periphery thereof to provide for peripheral ground support thereof.In addition, reinforcing ribs depend downwardly from the underneath sideof the load bearing portion and join at their ends with the sides toboth reinforce and provide ground support to the load bearing portion.Anchor pins are formed integral with and depend downwardly from both theunderneath side and the ribs and separate ground anchors are providedthat have a tight fit with the anchor pins and also a tight slot fitwith the ribs. The structural outlines of the tile and anchor pins arevery simple and renders these parts easily mass producible by injectionmolding.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedground tile.

Another object is to provide an outdoor ground tile having a new andimproved anchor arrangement for anchoring to a ground surface.

Another object is to provide an outdoor ground tile of hollow designwith integral ribs that both reinforce and provide ground support andseparate anchors that secure to both the ribs and anchor pins which areformed integral with the ribs. r

Another object is to provide an injection moldable plastic outdoorgroundtile that on an underneath side has reinforcingribs and anchorpins integral therewith that add little overall height to the tile and.together with the ribs have separate ground anchors press fit thereto.

The present invention further" resides in various novel constructionsand arrangement of parts, and further objects, novel characteristics andadvantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art to which it relates and from the following detailed descriptionof the illustrated embodiment thereof made with reference to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and in whichsimilar reference numerals or characters are employed to designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which FIG. 1 isa perspective view of a grouping of outdoor ground tiles according tothe present invention anchored to a ground surface.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the tiles and an attached anchortaken along the line 22 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the underneath side of one ofthe tiles in FIG. 1 without anchors.

FIG. 4'is a perspective view of one of the anchors.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of the underneath side of one ofthe tiles in FIG. 1 showing an anchor arranged for assembly therewith.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a grouping of outdoor tilesaccording to the present invention anchored to a ground surface 11. Thetiles 10 which may also be described as blocks are for outdoor use toform walkways, patios, borders and the like. The thin section structuraldesign of the tiles 10 whose details will now be described permits themto be readily made of a tough plastic such as polyethylene by injectionmolding and to be competitive with tiles or blocks of the same size madeof cast material such as concrete. In the embodimentshown the tiles 10which are formed in one piece have a square load bearing portion of thinsection 12 with a decorative top side 14 and an underneath side 16 asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Side walls 18 depend downwardly from and extendabout the entire periphery of the load bearing portion 12 to provideperipheral ground support therefor as shown in FIG. 2. In addition, apair of thin section reinforcing ribs 20 depend from the underneath side16, intersect each other at midpoints and attheir opposite ends joinwith the side walls 18 at the corners as best shown in FIG. 3. The ribs20 in addition to reinforcing the load bearing portion 12 are thesameheight as the side walls 18 and provide ground support along theirlength to the load bearing portion. Further ground support of the loadbearing portion 12 is provided by a plurality of slender legs 22 thatare circular in cross-section and depend from the underneath side 16inthe areas between the ribs 20 and the side walls 18 as shown in FIG. 3.The legs 22 are preferably the same height as the side walls l8and ribs20 to provide the additional ground support. Furthermore, the legs 22because of their slender size .can by building up ground surface insidethe side walls 18 serve to penetrate into this ground buildup to provideanchoring of the tile in addition to the primary anchoring structure nowto be described. It is also contemplated that the legs 22may be madelonger for better anchoring. i

The tiles 10 are primarily'anchored to the ground surface by meansof'anchor pins 24 that depend downwardly from both the underneath side16 and each rib portion intermediate the intersection of the ribs 20 andeach rib end at a corner of the tile as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5. Thepins 24 have a circular cross-section with a thickness substantiallygreater than that of the ribs 20 and for the greater part of theirheight are integral with the ribs with the result that they are veryrigid parts of the tile as best shown in FIG. 5. Preferably, the anchorpins 24 are located near the corners of the tile to obtain a spread-outanchoring arrangement which has been found to give optimum anchoring.

Anchoring of the tile 10 to the ground surface is provided by separateanchors 26 shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5. The anchors 26 at their upper endhave a cylindrical portion having a hole 28 that tightly receives thefull height of the anchor pins 24 and also a radial cross-slot 30 thatintersects the hole 28 and tightly receives the full height of the ribs20 as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. The anchors 26 at their lower endhave a pointed tip 32 with a fluted portion 34 that increases incrosssectional area away from the point terminating in a transverseshoulder 35 that is substantially below the bottom of the ribs 20 andside walls 18 and thus below the normal ground surface when fullyimplanted as shown in FIG. 2. This anchor shape has been found toprovide easy ground penetration and then firm resistance to both lateraland upward movement. The tile is anchored to the ground surface by pressfitting the anchors 26 to the pins 24 and ribs 20, positioning the tilein the desired location and then applying force on the top side 14 suchas stepping theron.

The structure of the tile 10 is ideally suited for injection molding inone piece of a tough plastic such as polyethylene. For this purpose theside walls 18, ribs 20, support legs 22, and anchor pins 24 all havetapers in the same direction away from the underneath side 16 as bestshown in FIG. 2. Furthermore the anchors 26 are similarly made ofplastic by injection molding with their hole 28 and cross-slot 30 havinga taper. With such tapering there is an added structural benefit in thatthe anchors 26 then have a taper fit with both the anchor pins 24 andribs 20.

To exemplify the extent of rigidity possible with the thin wall tilestructure according to the above teaching it was found that for a topside of 12 inches by 12 inches a very rigid structure suitable for hardoutdoor load bearing usage as walkways, patios and the like was obtainedwhere the thickness of the legs 22 was about three thirty-seconds inch,the thickness of the load bearing portion 12, side walls 18 and ribs wawabout one sixteenth inch and the height of the side walls 18 and ribs 20was about one-half inch. Further more, very adequate and rigid anchoringwas provided with a tile of this size by the anchoring pins having adiameter of about three sixteenth inch and the anchors 26 being 2 incheslong with the fluted portion 34 about l- /4inches and the shoulder 35about one-fourth inch below the ribs and side walls and thus the groundsurface.

While a rectangular shaped tile has been illustrated, it will beappreciated that the tile according to the present invention may fordecorative purposes have other shapes with more or less sides includinga round form in which case there would only be one side wall.

Although the illustrated embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed in great detail, it should be apparent that certainmodifications, changes, and adaptations may be made in the illustratedembodiment, and that it is intended to cover all such modifications,changes and adaptations which come within the spirit of the presentinvention.

I claim:

1. An outdoor ground tile of plastic or the like for fixed placement ona ground surface comprising a load bearing portion of substantial areahaving a top side and an underneath side, a side wall or walls integralwith and depending downwardly from and extending about the periphery ofsaid load bearing portion for providing ground support to the peripheryof said load bearing portion, a pair of elongated reinforcing ribsintegral with and depending downwardly from said underneath side andjoining at opposite ends with said side wall or walls and intersectingeach other at an intermediate location for reinforcing and alsoproviding ground support to said load bearing portion, an anchor pinintegral with and depending downwardly from both said underneath sideand each rib portion intermediate the intersection of said ribs and eachrib end, said side or sides and said ribs and said anchor pins alltapering to smaller size in the same direction away from said underneathside, and a plurality of separate anchors corresponding to the number ofanchor pins, each said anchor at an upper end having a tapered hole thatpress fits with said anchor pins and also having a cross-slot that pressfits with said rib portions, each said anchor at a lower end having apointed tip for readily penetrating the ground surface to provideanchoring of the tile to the ground surface.

2. The tile set forth in claim 1 and said anchors having a shouldersubstantially below both said ribs and said side wall or walls that willpenetrate substantially below the ground surface.

3. The tile set forth in claim 1 and a plurality of groundsupport-anchor legs integral with and depend ing downwardly from saidunderneath side in areas between said ribs and said wall or walls forproviding ground support to said load bearing portion and also forpinning to the ground surface.

4. The tile set forth in claim 3 and said wall or walls, said ribs andsaid legs all having the same height and said anchor pins having asubstantially greater height.

5. The tile set forth in claim 3 and said load bearing portion, saidside wall or walls and said ribs all having the same thickness.

1. An outdoor ground tile of plastic or the like for fixed placement ona ground surface comprising a load bearing portion of substantial areahaving a top side and an underneath side, a side wall or walls integralwith and depending downwardly from and extending about the periphery ofsaid load bearing portion for providing ground support to the peripheryof said load bearing portion, a pair of elongated reinforcing ribsintegral with and depending downwardly from said underneath side andjoining at opposite ends with said side wall or walls and intersectingeach other at an intermediate location for reinforcing and alsoproviding ground support to said load bearing portion, an anchor pinintegral with and depending downwardly from both said underneath sideand each rib portion intermediate the intersection of said ribs and eachrib end, said side or sides and said ribs and said anchor pins alltapering to smaller size in the same direction away from said underneathside, and a plurality of separate anchors corresponding to the number ofanchor pins, each said anchor at an upper end having a tapered hole thatpress fits with said anchor pins and also having a cross-slot that pressfits with said rib portions, each said anchor at a lower end having apointed tip for readily penetrating the ground surface to provideanchoring of the tile to the ground surface.
 2. The tile set forth inclaim 1 and said anchors having a shoulder substantially below both saidRibs and said side wall or walls that will penetrate substantially belowthe ground surface.
 3. The tile set forth in claim 1 and a plurality ofground support-anchor legs integral with and depending downwardly fromsaid underneath side in areas between said ribs and said wall or wallsfor providing ground support to said load bearing portion and also forpinning to the ground surface.
 4. The tile set forth in claim 3 and saidwall or walls, said ribs and said legs all having the same height andsaid anchor pins having a substantially greater height.
 5. The tile setforth in claim 3 and said load bearing portion, said side wall or wallsand said ribs all having the same thickness.